Famous Affinities of History — Complete eBook

In her first letter, which was sent to Abelard written
upon parchment, she said:

At thy command I would change, not merely my costume,
but my very soul, so entirely art thou the sole possessor
of my body and my spirit. Never, God is my witness,
never have I sought anything in thee but thyself;
I have sought thee, and not thy gifts. I have
not looked to the marriage-bond or dowry.

She begged him to write to her, and to lead her to
God, as once he had led her into the mysteries of
pleasure. Abelard answered in a letter, friendly
to be sure, but formal—­the letter of a priest
to a cloistered nun. The opening words of it
are characteristic of the whole:

To Heloise, his sister in Christ, from Abelard, her
brother in Him.

The letter was a long one, but throughout the whole
of it the writer’s tone was cold and prudent.
Its very coldness roused her soul to a passionate
revolt. Her second letter bursts forth in a sort
of anguish:

How hast thou been able to frame such thoughts, dearest?
How hast thou found words to convey them? Oh,
if I dared but call God cruel to me! Oh, most
wretched of all creatures that I am! So sweet
did I find the pleasures of our loving days that I
cannot bring myself to reject them or to banish them
from my memory. Wheresoever I go, they thrust
themselves upon my vision, and rekindle the old desire.

But Abelard knew only too well that not in this life
could there be anything save spiritual love between
himself and Heloise. He wrote to her again and
again, always in the same remote and unimpassioned
way. He tells her about the history of monasticism,
and discusses with her matters of theology and ethics;
but he never writes one word to feed the flame that
is consuming her. The woman understood at last;
and by degrees her letters became as calm as his—­suffused,
however, with a tenderness and feeling which showed
that in her heart of hearts she was still entirely
given to him.

After some years Abelard left his dwelling at the
Paraclete, and there was founded there a religious
house of which Heloise became the abbess. All
the world respected her for her sweetness, her wisdom,
and the purity of her character. She made friends
as easily as Abelard made enemies. Even Bernard,
who had overthrown her husband, sought out Heloise
to ask for her advice and counsel.

Abelard died while on his way to Rome, whither he
was journeying in order to undergo a penalty; and
his body was brought back to the Paraclete, where
it was entombed. Over it for twenty-two years
Heloise watched with tender care; and when she died,
her body was laid beside that of her lover.

To-day their bones are mingled as she would have desired
them to be mingled. The stones of their tomb
in the great cemetery of Pere Lachaise were brought
from the ruins of the Paraclete, and above the sarcophagus
are two recumbent figures, the whole being the work
of the artist Alexandra Lenoir, who died in 1836.
The figure representing Heloise is not, however, an
authentic likeness. The model for it was a lady
belonging to a noble family of France, and the figure
itself was brought to Pere Lachaise from the ancient
College de Beauvais.